According to Business Insider, 11 million meetings happen in the U.S. every day. The sad reality? One-third of those meetings are not productive. The cost to business is more than $37 billion each year. How can we fix this? Check out these quick tips to ensure your next meeting is as productive, efficient and effective as possible.

Tip #1: Set an agenda and limit it to 2-3 items.

Share the agenda at least 24 hours in advance so attendees can come prepared Tweet this.

Tip #2: Limit the invitees.

Consider the agenda. Who are the decision-makers that will be essential to include? Tweet this.

Tip #3: Start on time and end on time.

This one is self-explanatory. :) Tweet this.

Tip #4: When hosting virtual meetings, use video and screen share when possible.

These features help foster interaction and keep attendees focused. Tweet this.

Tip #5: Institute a no cell phone rule.

When attendees are distracted by text messages, emails, or ping from social media, they can’t give their full attention to the task at hand. Consider collecting cellphones in a basket, asking meeting attendees to leave their phones in their pockets, or simply to place them face down on the table and switch them over to “silent” mode. Tweet this.

Tip #6: If possible, reduce one-hour meetings to 45-minutes.

This gives attendees time to debrief, organize their notes, and make it to the next meeting on time. Tweet this.

Tip 7: Consider whether you really need to hold a meeting at all.

Status updates, for example, are often better-suited for email or collaboration tools. Save meetings for conversations drive action and that can’t take place productively via other channels. Ex: brainstorming, decision making. Tweet this.

Tip #8: Don’t forget to take good notes!

As the meeting organizer, you should always send out a summary/recap within 24 hours of the meeting. Be sure to include action items, next steps, and deadlines. Tweet this.

Ready to invest in technology that will make your meetings a little less frustrating? With 8x8 Video Meetings, you can connect easily from anywhere and any device using one-click. Make it productive. Make it simple. See for yourself.